How to land a plane?

[luizopiloto]

make a better plane then...

[Kryxal]

Also note that you can fly a single-engine plane up to the test altitude by turning on the engine with right-click, THEN stage it ... that plane would be nicer without all that mass for so little wing area.

[DrMonte]

Plane design

Build simple plane. One engine. One fuel tank. Two wings.

Don't forget control surfaces. To make it easier add small winglets on the plane nose.

The center of mass and the center of lift must be in the center of the fuel tank.

How much lift you need? Your plane must easily take of the runway at ~80m/s.

Flying

CapsLock ON - take it easy on keyboard controls (if you use keyboard).

T - Turn on flight assist. Yep it's useful.

First get familiar with your plane. Sliding, side rotating, head rotating, slowest flying speed (kill few Kerbals in uncontrollable crash).

Learn to land on the KSC grassland instead of aiming to the Runway!

To fix heading direction use rotate (QE) controls.

To fix nose aim to the yellow circle use right/left (AD) controls. You will crash if you will not be heading straight.

[Alshain]

If you want a simple plane to practice landing with, the second link in my signature, first plane is perfect for that. Technically it was designed for NEAR/FAR but it's simple enough it should work. Worst case scenario move the wings a little if the CoL is off. Also you need set the control surfaces up in stock.

[Wanderfound]

BTW: there are an assortment of landing techniques that can work, but for myself I don't use much if any landing flare. This is only for flying in FAR/NEAR; the lousy gliding abilities of stock aero change the situation somewhat.

If you need to sharply pitch up at the last second to avoid smashing into the ground, you're coming in way too steep. With a bit of practice, you can set your descent rate to 5m/s before you're over the runway and just gently cruise in for a three-point touchdown with the nose level. As well as being more elegant and easier on the passengers, it also removes the substantial risk of over- or under-doing the flare.

DaMichel's Kerbal Flight Indicators mod is very useful for this; just get the prograde marker onto the end of the runway and keep it there while you monitor your drop rate.

It's not a carrier landing, you've got a long runway, use it.

Edited October 16, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Alshain]

In addition to DaMichel's mod you might consider kujuman's NavUtilities. It has runway alignment guidance and a built in precision approach path indicator system (PAPI), that will quickly teach you what it should "feel like" when landing (hint: It's not a steep dive and a quick pitch up). The PAPI is in the form of the two pink triangles on either side. It can be a little confusing but basically the triangles indicate where the glide path is in relation to you. If the triangles are down you need to go down to get to the glide path (i.e. you're too high) if the triangles are up you need to go up (i.e. you're too low). If the triangles are on the center line, you are on the glide path. This is a case where close is good enough so you don't have to be perfectly on that line.

It can be a little tough to trust the PAPI at first, you will undoubtedly start to believe you are too high or too low.

Edited October 16, 2014 by Alshain